Lydia Davis Quotes

I don't like to hurt people's feelings, and I don't like to knock other writers as a matter of principle.

Lydia Davis

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Quotes to Explore

• We think of writing a book as a process, but the very word - process - suggests that there is one: a template to follow, a map to guide us. If that were true, someone would have surely figured out some marketable method we could all buy.

  

  Hanya Yanagihara
  • Writing
  • Book
  • True

• I try not to have favorites, but Barfly is one that I like. My favorite is always the one I just finished.

  

  Barbet Schroeder
  • Like
  • Try
  • Just

• You know Hollywood is a weird and wonderful place, I didn't know I Dream of Jeanie had been cancelled after 5 years until I went back to go on the lot to pick up some clothes and things I had in my dressing room.

  

  Larry Hagman
  • Up
  • Dream
  • Weird

• Even though I am the daughter of a poet, and my stepmother is also a poet, growing up, I didn't think I could understand poetry; I didn't think that it had any relevance to my life, the feelings that I endured on a day-to-day basis, until I was introduced to the right poem.

  

  Natasha Trethewey
  • Life
  • Up
  • Growing

• If Jesus Christ came back today, He and I would get into our brown corduroys and go to the nearest jean store and overturn the racks of blue denim.

  

  Ian Anderson
  • Today
  • Jesus
  • Blue

• Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.

  

  Dag Hammarskjold
  • God
  • Prayer
  • Animal

• For some reason, I just lack that ability to be embarrassed about going up to people. I even do it for friends if they want to ask someone out.

  

  Naomie Harris
  • People
  • Up
  • Friends

• Time is the devourer of all things.

  

  Ovid
  • Time
  • Things
  • All Things

• I had been impressed by the fact that biological systems were based on molecular machines and that we were learning to design and build these sorts of things.

  

  K. Eric Drexler
  • Learning
  • Design
  • Build

• Design can successfully bind the ancient nomadic cultures with today's global marketplace, ensuring the preservation of traditions and knowledge for further generations. This aspect of research is obviously rich in its business potential as well.

  

  Yelena Baturina
  • Business
  • Today
  • Knowledge

• Sometimes I'll have an idea for a story or have a subject, and that will inspire lyrics, but most of the time, hopefully, they already exist somewhere else.

  

  Beck
  • Time
  • Sometimes
  • Lyrics

• Why are we tiptoeing on glass? You can ask me whatever you like; people usually do, and I try to be as honest as I can.

  

  Karan Singh Grover
  • People
  • Honest
  • Usually

• I just sing. You have to use it.

  

  Aaron Neville
  • You
  • Just
  • Sing

• The 'Hercules' role just kind of came to me, but I had a lot of fun trying something new.

  

  Irina Shayk
  • Fun
  • Kind
  • Role

• We are all human beings, and our nationality is simply an accident of birth.

  

  Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
  • Human
  • Birth
  • Human Beings

• I think some people like me because I'm different. I don't think like everybody else. People are so tied up in the worst parts of technology these days. They live a life pressing buttons. They don't use their imaginations.

  

  Iris Apfel
  • People
  • Life
  • Up

• I think a lot of a man's outlook in life - at least mine - is shaped by his relationship with his father.

  

  Saif Ali Khan
  • Life
  • Father
  • Relationship

• I haven't even graduated from high school yet - and I've realised in the last four years, with all the travelling I've done and all of the movies I've made, that the world is my classroom. I've experienced things I don't know you can necessarily get from reading a history book.

  

  Hailee Steinfeld
  • World
  • School
  • Done

• Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

  

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Your soul's mission is to serve in the grandest way it can. Divine plans lie imprinted in your inner world, and there are important lessons for you to learn and share on this journey to your most magnificent self.

  

  Debbie Ford
  • World
  • Important
  • Soul

• Shelter me from the powderAnd the fingerCover me with the thoughtThat pulled the triggerThink of meAs one you'd never figuredWould fade away so youngWith so much left undone.

  

  Neil Young Buffalo Springfield

• You can't win with some people. If you're not in government, you're criticised for being not serious. If you are in government, you're criticised for wanting power. That's the Labour party's line of attack, and it's a bit ridiculous.

  

  Vince Cable
  • People
  • Power
  • Party

• A short story can be packed with meaning and impact, with the concentrated density of a collapsed star, but should preferably also have a kind of elegant simplicity.

  

  Jeffrey Thomas
  • Star
  • Simplicity

• I don't like to hurt people's feelings, and I don't like to knock other writers as a matter of principle.

  

  Lydia Davis
  • People
  • Hurt